


Bravery

by TorterraGarden



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, mc has a name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-21 19:40:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18146555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TorterraGarden/pseuds/TorterraGarden
Summary: Yoosung hates horror movies, how did he end up with a girlfriend who loves them?





	Bravery

**Author's Note:**

> Another one for Yoosung week! Hope y'all like it. Based on that one text in his route where you can say you like horror movies and he gets adorably scared lmao

Sometimes, Yoosung worried that he was too much of a coward for his girlfriend.

Not that she ever said he was, of course. Seunghee was too nice to ever say anything like that to him. But he remembered the creeping dread he had felt when he asked her what kind of movies she liked, and she responded that she liked horror movies.

_Horror movies._

His least favorite genre. He didn’t even like watching the trailers. The one time he had gone to see one in theaters with his friends, he had ended up bailing halfway through, too desperate to leave to even care about his money going to waste. Why, of all genres, had Seunghee named that one? He told her that he would be willing to watch them with her if that was what she really liked, but he wasn’t exactly good at hiding how terrified he was even through text. She immediately assured him that they didn’t have to watch horror. She liked other kinds of movies too, she said. She liked romance just like he did, and would be all too happy to watch those with him. That was a relief, but he still wanted to try to enjoy her interests with her. Wasn't that what a good boyfriend would do? So every now and then he told himself to suck it up and watch whatever scary thing she wanted to.

Yoosung tried to enjoy them. He really did. He tried not to jump too much or scream too loud. When it was over he told her that he liked that one, actually, and she had been right, it wasn’t _that_ bad. They both knew he was lying.

“You really don’t have to watch The Strolling Dead with me, Yoosung,” she said to him one night. They were curled up on the couch together watching the show, and it had just turned to a commercial break. “I know how much you hate it.”

“It’s fine.” He clenched his hand into a fist so she wouldn’t notice that it was trembling. He tried to focus on the ad that was playing, something about cat food, but in his mind he could still see some guy getting torn apart by zombies right before the break. “I think I’m starting to like it.”

“You’re such a bad liar,” Seunghee said. She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. “Seriously, I don’t even like this show that much, I just watch it out of habit. It’s fine if you want to put on something else.”

He felt a bit calmer with her so close to him. Focusing on her warmth and her weight on him helped to ground him to reality. It was just a stupid show. His hand reached to find hers and he laced their fingers together. Just a stupid show. Why did he have to be so bad at handling this? Or rather, why was Seunghee so good at it? How could someone so sweet not even blink while watching someone get disemboweled on screen? He just didn’t get it, but she liked this stuff for some reason, so he wanted to try. 

“We always watch what I want,” Yoosung said. “I don’t mind watching what you like.”

“But I like that other stuff too,” Seunghee said. “You clearly hate this – don’t deny it, I know you do. And I feel bad that you’re giving yourself nightmares just because you want to make me happy.”

“I don’t get nightmares when I’m with you,” Yoosung said. “Not often, anyway.” It was true, he didn’t often have bad dreams when Seunghee was next to him. And the ones he did have… he didn't like to tell her this, but they weren’t usually about whatever scary movie he had just watched with Seunghee. Usually they involved mint green eyes narrowed in menace, a bomb going off, something sharp hovering above his eye and then an excruciating pain….

The show came back on, but Seunghee sat up and switched the TV off. Yoosung wanted to give at least a half-hearted protest, but given that his whole body sagged with relief when the screen went dark, he knew he had already given himself away.

“Thank you,” Yoosung said.

Seunghee laughed and put her head on his shoulder again, nuzzling into him. “You’re welcome.”

“Why do you like that stuff so much anyway?” Yoosung asked, putting his arm around her. “It doesn't scare you at all?”

Seunghee was quiet for a moment as she thought about it. “No. Not really.”

So, Yoosung was just a coward then. Great. “Well, what’s the appeal?”

She was quiet again before she said, “I think I was scared at first, but, well, they’re not real. I know that nothing I’m seeing is real, so even if I was scared, none of it can hurt me. I can observe these terrifying things from a distance, and by the time it’s over, I feel braver.”

“I guess… I can kind of understand that,” Yoosung said. She was right, none of it was real. He felt like a child for being afraid. Wasn’t he supposed to have outgrown these fears? He wasn’t sure he actually believed in things like demons or zombies, and while he supposed the threat of non-supernatural murderers was still real, how likely was it that one would appear in their apartment? Why did he still feel that creeping dread when the movie was over? He liked what Seunghee had said, about how seeing these horrors from a safe distance made her feel braver, and he wished he could feel the same way about them. But he didn’t. By the time the movies were over, he still just felt scared. “I guess I’m just a coward.”

“You’re not a coward just because you don’t like The Strolling Dead, Yoosung.” Seunghee squeezed his hand. “I think you’re braver than me.”

“What? No way.”

“You are. You risked your life for me.” Seunghee lifted her head to meet Yoosung’s gaze. “You lost an eye for me.”

The awe in her voice made Yoosung's face feel warm with embarrassment, but he couldn't pretend he wasn't happy about it too. “I wasn’t scared to do that,” Yoosung said softly. “It was worth it for you.”

“See? You are brave. There’s different kinds of bravery.”

Different kinds of bravery… he meant it when he said he wasn’t scared to risk his life for her. He couldn’t have let Seven go alone, and he wanted to do it for Seunghee. He knew that in the days leading up to his and Seven’s mission, she had been putting on a brave face for him. She always sounded confident and unfazed on the phone, but he could hear the crack in her voice on some words, and the slight tremble when she wished him a good night and promised him she was safe. He had wanted to tell her that she was allowed to be afraid, he wouldn’t think less of her – who wouldn’t be terrified in such a situation? He wanted to tell her that he would be there for her, always, but how could he prove it to her when he couldn’t actually be by her side? 

He remembered her soft voice on the phone, calling him her knight in shining armor. He knew she was saying that because he would love it, she always knew exactly what he wanted to hear. But he hoped she had meant it too. He always wanted her to see him as someone she could rely on. Maybe that was why he kept forcing himself to watch horror movies with her, because he was still trying to prove that to her. But if she wasn’t scared, and he was, that wasn’t exactly proving his point. And maybe he didn’t need to prove it to her, if she already knew he would be beside her when it mattered.

"How about this, you don't have to watch anything scary with me from now on," Seunghee said, "as long as you'll still get rid of spiders for me."

Yoosung laughed and pulled her into a hug. "That's fair."


End file.
